The Responsive Classroom is based on sound principles of Child Development theory and on a commitment to teach the social skills of CARES: Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self-control.

The components of classroom practice at Kenny that teach these skills are:

·Morning Meeting which provides students daily opportunity to practice greetings, conversation, and activities and motivates them to meet the academic challenges of the day ahead

·Rules and Logical Consequences, which are generated, modeled, and role-played with students, and become a cornerstone of classroom life

·Guided Discovery of learning materials, areas of the room, and routines—this is a technique that moves students through a deliberate and careful introduction to new experiences; there is no assumption that students already know how to do something before they begin

·Classroom Organization that provides active interest areas for students, space for student-created displays of work, and an appropriate mix of whole-class, group, and individual instruction

·Academic Choice for all students every day, in which they must take control of their own learning in a meaningful way, both individually and cooperatively

·Assessment and Reporting to parents, an evolving process of mutual communication and understanding